Peak Oil is coming or has already passed, depending on who you ask. What is peak oil? It's the point at which the maximum output of oil on Earth is reached, after which production starts declining. This is a big problem, as the population of humans is ever growing and oil consumption continues to grow. It doesn't take much beyond a basic understanding of economics to realize that if supply is declining and demand is growing, prices are going to shoot upwards.

So what can be done? Well, we can reduce demand by requiring more fuel efficient vehicles. We can increase dependence on other forms of energy, such as solar/wind/nuclear/coal/etc. We can produce more ethanol and biodiesel (although there is some disagreement over whether takes more energy to produce than it nets.) We can switch to some other wacky scheme of energy storage, like hydrogen gas. The bottom line is that we're going to have to do ALL OF THESE THINGS and then some.

Let's face the facts: The United States is full of assholes.

These assholes want to drive a 5000lb V8 SUV to work everyday from their house in a distant suburb. They don't want a nuclear plant anywhere within a thousand miles. They don't care about the price of oil, as it really works out to probably 20% or less of their total car expense anyhow, and a 50% jump in prices won't hurt them too much. Sure, they'll bitch a whole lot. And they'll support an invasion of an oil rich country like Venezuela just to reduce the price a few pennies per gallon. And you can't take their SUV's away. Big oil wants them on the road. The Big Three even more so, as it's their major profit center. And you can't make them live in the inner cities. That's too... plebian. No one wants to live in an apartment. Oh no. "I've got to own my own roof."

So what can we REALLY do to reduce demand for oil?

Stop building roads. Bring highway construction to a screaming halt. Stop funding connection roads to new developments. Reduce the number of lanes on the freeway. Let traffic congestion SOAR. The more difficult it becomes to commute long distances to work, the more you force people away from distant suburbs and into the inner cities. If it takes you an hour to drive three miles, don't you think you'd consider walking instead?

Extreme commuting is becoming a "growing lifestyle" according to the US census bureau - meaning these assholes commute 90 minutes a day. Can you imagine driving 370 miles a day? Even with an incredible 60mpg, you'd still be consuming over 6 gallons of gas a day.

So, let's stop the spread of cities. Let's kill these "extreme commuters". Let's save money on infrastructure. Traffic will eventually force people to work close to home. They won't have a choice. Commute times will drop drastically, and people will start living in multiunit housing.